Canny Cinven accelerates Spire sale

摘要

European private equity house Cinven is steadily building its reputation as one of the canniest practitioners of equity capital markets. The alternative asset manager exited its remaining 38.3% stake in the UK's spire healthcare last week through a combination of strategic sale and an accelerated bookbuild, with both priced significantly above last year's IPO. Last Monday, South African healthcare group mediclinic agreed to acquire 29.9% of Spire from Cinven. Spire operates 39 private hospitals and 13 clinics across England, Wales and Scotland. The business was rebranded following Cinven's £1.44bn acquisition of 25 Bupa hospitals in 2007, after which Classic Hospitals and Thames Valley Hospital were purchased in 2008. Classic was purchased for £145m, including debt, and Thames Valley for £23m.